Blank-feeding mechanism



March 10, 1925.

W. CAMERON BLANK FnEDING MEGHANISM n Find Das. 1', 1921 2 sheets-sheet 1 Il Lil w IIIIIIIIJMIL lll-.IIN

minimum-nul mill/IN March 10, 1925.

w. CAMERON' BLANK' FIEDIHQIIECHAXISI 2 Sheets5heet 2 tion. Y

'relatively soft material desi y Patented Mar'. 1o, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

WUJIIAIICAIEBON, 0E CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

lBiIilfiANX-IEEEIDING Application vtiled December 1, 1921. Serial 110.519,109.

To all whom it may eonm.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM CAMERON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefuly Improvementsn in Blank-Feeding fMech'- anism, of which the following isa specifica- This inventionrelates ingeneral to blank feeding'apparatus, andwhile ca able of use for a variety of purposes, it is lustrated in the present instance as applied to a press adapted to stamp out articles, such as canends, for instance, from` metal Y blanks or sheets. s v l e In machines of this character, the blanks are stacked in a magazine, from which they are lifted in succession by reciprocatory pneumatic lifting devices, and when elevated clear ofthe magazine, they are transferred laterally by reciprocatoriy; feed channel, along w longitudinally b` a step-by-step movement to t e blanking ies. It is essential that the .blanks be accurately controlled during their' movements from the ma azine into the feed channel, 'or otherwise, t ey will not enter the channel and the machinewill jam. .'lhe employment of pneumatic lifting devices `having suction cups made of rubber or other ed to insure' a ainst air leakage between t e cupv and the b ank bein lifted has. heretofore b een attempted. n some instances, the blanks have been s lid edgewise by the transferers from the suction cups into the feed channel while the.. suction between theblank and the cu s was maintained, but thisb sliding of t e blanks across the face of the cups under suction causes the faces of the cups to wear o very rapidly. In otherinstances, stripping devices have4 beenl employed to strip the blanks from the cups prior to `the transferring operation, but when thus stripped from the cups control of the blanks is lost to an appreciable. degree, with the result that the blanks ar'enot guided accurately into the feed channel, and many v]ams occur which not only destroy the Iblanks, butdiminish the output of the machine. For these reasons, the rubber .faced suction cups for this purpose have not been successful.

Resort has therefore been made to the use of metal faced suction cups, which do not wear away like rubber, but `on the other hand their inflexibility renders them intransferers into a. ich 'they are'fed capable of conforming to the uneveness and irregularities of bent, warped, or otherwise distorted blanks, conseluently, the suction between a cup andv a lank is frequently broken, one end' of the blank drops and a jam and probablebreakage of the machine ensues. l

One of the primary purposes of my present invention is the provision of mechanism which will insure that 'the' blanks are lifted by a positive suction from the magazine and positioned in alignment with the feed channel, whereupon, just as the edgewise movement of a blank underthe iniiuence of the transferer is about to take place, the suction on the. liftin devices is relieved, thereby releasing the lank from the lifting devices so that wear on the, suction cups 1s eliminated, and at the same time,

thetiming is such that the blanksv are at all times under control and are lacci'irately guided into` the feed channel.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanism for the pnrpose indicated, which will vpermit the employment of-rubber faced suction cups without' subjecting them to wear b the blanks being transferre e therefrom, an which will be simple inconstruction, and durable, reliable and eicient in' operation.

Other features'of advantage of the invenltion will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood, by referencel to the following description, when considered in connection with the accompanying draw-l meferring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view .of a machine equipped with my invention;

ri ht atFig.1;

ig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the suction controlling mechanism;

Fig. 4 isa similar view looking .down upon the structure shown in Fig. 3;

n y Y Fig. 2 is an end view lookiiig toward the Fi 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3';

Fi 6 is a transverse sectional view on the line' 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an end view looking toward the left at Figs.- 3 and 4, and

. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view o'f one of the suction cups.

Presses of this general character, adapted sto handle and operate upon metal blanks, are well known, the general structure. of

of the press structure as is necessary forV an understanding of my invention.

Thepress, as illustrated, comprises a stationary die 8 adapted to co-operate with a Vreciprocatory die 9, which is actuated `by' a crank 11 on the main drive shaft 12. Thev blanks 13 are stored in a magazine 14, from which they are lifted in succession by pneumatic lifting devices, indicated generally byfreference character 15, into the position shown in Fig. 2, from which they are transferred by transferers 16 edgewise into a feed channel 17. A reciprocatory feed bar 18, equipped with feed dogs 19, is reciprocated longitudinally of' this channel by means of a link 21 connected with a bell crank lever 22, which in turn is oscillated by a link 23 connected at `its upper end to a crank pin 24 on the end of the main shaft 12. Re-

ciprocatory movements of this feed bar feed the blank by a step-by-step movement intol position between the dies 'by which the desired 'operation is performed. All of these parts and other details of the press may be of any approved construction.

The main shaft 12 is. provided near its inner end with a sprocket wheel 25 connected by a drive chain 26 with a driven sprocket 27 equipped with a pinion 28, which drives an idler 29, which in turn meshes with and drives a gear 31 fixed upon a shaft 32. The inner face of gear wheel 31 is provided with a cam 33-adapted to accommodate a follower 34 mounted upon a lever 35 fulcrumed at 36 upon the machine frame. This lever is connected by a link 37 with a lever arm '38 fixed upon a rock shaft 39 journaled in suitable supports 41.

The rock shaft is equipped with a plurality of curved -arms 42, each connected by a link 43 with a transferer head 44 carrying the transferer 16. This head is adapted to be reciprocated transversely of the magazine and is guided in itsreciprocatory movements upon a guide bar 45. The transferers, acting in unison, are adapted to transfer afblank 13 which has been lifted from the magazine by blank lifting devices, which will be later described, into the feed channel 17, along which it is fed by a step-I by-step movement to the dies 8 and 9.

The blank lifting devices, indicated generall by reference character 15, and four of w ich are shown in the` present instance,

are provided at their lower ends with su ltion heads 46 comprising rubber cups 46 attached to the body of the head by headed stems 46h, each provided with an aperture 46 through which suction is applied to a blank 13 in contact with the head. The heads are reciprocated toward and from the magazine by'means of arms 47 fixed upon a rock shaft 48 and frictionally connected with links 49 kwhich are attached at their lower4 ends tothe heads 46. These links,

as will be apparent from Fig..2, are slotted to accommodate threaded bolts 51 which passthrough the slots and into the ends of the arms 47, the friction between the larms land the links being established by means 'ing devices at predetermined intervals through hose or tube 54 connected to a T- coupling 55 (Fig. 4) which is attached to the hollow stud 56 of a sleeve 57 adapted to be reciprocated upon a hollow rod 58 extending outwardly from the frame member 59 ofthe machine. YThe inner end of the rod 58 is connected by hose -61 to a suction pump 62 of any preferred construction, adapted to be continuously actuated by an eccentric 63 fixed on the ,main shaft 12.

The bore 64 of `the rod 58 terminates inwardly from the outer end of the rod and opens laterally, as shown in Fig. 5, in position to communicate with the bore of the stud 56 so as to establish communication between the suction pump and the lifting devices tc thereby ap ly suction to said de'- vices to enable these devices to lift the uppermost sheet from the magazine into the position shown in Fig. 2. In order to eEect the reciprocatory movements of the lifting devices, the rock shaft 48 is rovided with an-` arm 65 which is connected y a link 66 with of the gear wheel 31 so that at each revolution of the shaft 32, a complete reciprocation isA imparted to the lifting devices in predetermined timed relation with a complete reciprocation of the transfers, which are also` actuated from the shaft 32 through the action of the cam 33.

The shaft 32 is further provided with a cam 68 which is adapted to actuate a lever 69 fulcrumed at 71 to the frame of the machine and 'equipped with a follower '72 which is held against the face of the cam 68 by an expansion spring 73. The opposite end of lever 69 is connected by a link 74 with the sleeve '57 upon the hollow rod 58 so that at each revolution of the shaft 32,'a complete reciprocation is, imparted to the sleeve 57. The outer end of the rod 58 beyond .the termination'of the bore 64 is provided with a longitudinally extending groove adapt,- ed to register with the bore 76 of the stud 56 when the sleeve 57 approaches the end of the rod 58. lt vwill be manifest therefore, that when the bore 76 is in registration with the bore 64, suction will be appliedto thc lifting devices from the suction pump, and as the sleeve 5.7 travels toward the end of lll() operate in predetermined timed relation,

which is so regulated that the suction on the lifting devices will be relieved just at the.

time that the transfers 4engage the lifted blank to transfer it edgewise into the feed magazine into the feed channel under fect control, the transferers are not obllged channel. 'lhe blank is therefore released Yfrom. the control of the liftingdevices just as control thereof is assumed by the transferers, with the result that while the blank is at all times in its movement from the to work against theresistance to movement of the blanks which would be offered if the suction' on the lifting devices were not relieved, and furthermore, the faces of the suction heads are not subjected to wear which would result from frictional sliding of the blanks across thefaces thereof.

The operation of a machine embodying my invention is therefore, briefly as follows:

/ Upon each revolution of the shaft 32, the

lifting devices are lowered into the ma azine into engagement .with the to lank therein, variations in' the hei hth of the blank being taken care of by t e frictional sliding .connection between the links 49 and the arms 47. Whenthe lifting devices have reached the/lowermost limit of their travel and the faces of the suction heads 46 are engaged with the u lperfsurface of 4the-uppermost blank in t e magazine, the sleeve 57 has beenmoved to a point to register the passage 76 with the bore 64 of the rod 58,

thereby permitting the` application kof sucfion from the'suction pu'mp to the lifting devices. This suctionA causes the uppermost blank t0 adhere tothe -suction heads, and upon upward movement of the devices, the blank is lifted from the magazineinto the position shown in Fig. 2J When it has reached this position, the transferers are moved across the path of movement'of the lifting devices to` transfer the blank from the lifting devicesintc the feeding channel. Just as the transferers are brou ht into engagement with the outer edge o the blank, the sleeve 57 has moved outwardly to register the passag e7 6 with thegroove 75, there# by admitting atmospheric air to the lifting devices to. relieve the suction thereon so that the blank may be transferred without resistance by the suction heads and without wear upon the faces of these heads. The

so as to alternately connect said liftin blank, therefore, is under control at all times but the control by the lifting devices and the transferers, vinstead of being simultan-k-vr ous, is alternate, thereby producing an easier running machine and reducing the wearon the faces of the suction heads to a minimum.

. It is believed that the construction, operation, and -.man of the advantages lof .this invention shoul'd be understood and appreciated without further description, and 'while I lhave. shown and described a referredfembodiment of the invention, o viously, the details thereof may be varied within considerable limits without departing from the vessence of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a blank feeding mechanism, the combination of pneumatic blank lifting devices, a transferer, means for reciprocating said 'transferena suction creating device, a connection between said device and said blank lifting devices, said connection including a.

hollow tube and a-sleeve slidable thereon, and means for reciprocating said sleeve to yintermitter'itly establish communication be- 2. In a blank feeding mechanism, the com` bination-of reciprocatory blank lifting dereciRrocating. said transferer from4 said sha a suction-device,l aconnection between said suction device and said lifting devices including a hollow tube and sliding sleeve, a cam on said shaft, and means operated by said cam for reciprocating said sleeve e. vices with said suction device and wit atmosphere respectively in predetermined timed relation with the movements of the transferer. f

3. In a blank feeding mechanism, the combination of a-blank lifting device, a transferer, means including a cam shaftl for reciprocating said transferer across the path of saidy lifting,l device, suction creating means, a connection between said suction creating means and said )lifting device, a-

control mechanism interposed in said connection through which communication is' established between said lifting device` and said suction creating device or atmosphere alternately, and means operated by said cam shaft for actuating said control mechanism in predetermined timed relation with resaid vices, a transferer, a driven shaft, means for 4. In a blank feeding mechanism, the combination of a pneumatic lifting device, a

transferer, means vfor reciprocating said4 transferer, a suction creating device, means 5 including a longitudinally movable sleeve for establishing communication between said lifting device and said suction device I WILLIAM CAMERON. 

